Migration News - April
1999

Khathu Mamaila reports for the Sowetan (Johannesburg
29/04) that Karen Dzimba braved the
crocodile-infested Limpopo River when he crossed to
Messina in search of greener pastures. Like many
"illegal immigrants" from Zimbabwe, he found a
job on a farm. He and two fellow Zimabweans were offered
R120 a month, which they accepted. They toiled for a
whole month but at the end of February - when they were
supposed to be paid - the white farmer refused to pay
them. He told them to work for another month before they
would get their wages. A dispute erupted when they
demanded their money. The farmer, angered by the
"cheeky" Zimbabweans, allegedly fetched a rifle
from his house and started shooting at the three workers.
A bullet allegedly hit Dzimba in his hand. Dzimba,
bleeding profusely, walked for more than 15km to the
Waterpoort police station to report the incident. The
police took him to Siloam Hospital, where he was
admitted. A few days after he was discharged, he
disappeared and possibly returned home. Waterpoort police
said they could not continue with the case as the
complainant could not be traced. But his story is not an
isolated one. Shirami Shirinda, a fieldworker of the
Nkunzi Development Association, a non-governmental
organisation championing the rights of farmworkers in
Northern Province, told Sowetan of another case. They
were recruited near the border by a white farmer and
promised jobs. Twelve of them worked on a farm in
February without any pay. At the end of that month, they
were told to leave the farm. They went to the police but
were told the police could not act as the workers were
involved in a labour dispute and not a criminal matter.

Business Day (Pretoria 29/04) reports that
xenophobia is on the rise in the post-apartheid South
Africa, with a growing number of brutal attacks and
killings of foreigners, says the United Nations (UN)
refugee agency. "In the past two years, more than 30
innocent refugees and asylum seekers have been brutally
killed, simply because they were foreigners," said a
report released by the deputy regional representative of
the UN high Commissioner for Refugees, Mengesha Kebede.
The report was co-authored with the SA Human Rights
Commission and the National Consortium on Refugees
Affairs. The high commission and non-governmental
organisations released it at the launch of a public
awareness campaign against xenophobia. David McDonald of
the Southern African Migration Project said xenophobia
was mainly fueled by a belief that immigrants were taking
scarce jobs and were responsible for rising crime and
disease. He argued that "many immigrants were
victims of crime and not perpetrators of crime in South
Africa". Up to 23% of foreigners in South Africa
were assaulted and another 42% robbed.

Business Day (28/04) reports that according to the
University of South Africas graduate school on
business, the government lost R8.4bn of potential income
tax as a result of emigration by graduate and
professionals between 1994 and 1997. The study compiled
by Reinhold Joubert, associate professor of economics,
concludes that the cost of emigration may not appear
drastic in a single year, but "if the trend
continues it will have it will have a drastic result on
South Africa in the long run. Emigration is like syrup
running from a spoon. If it starts to run, it is
difficult to stop". The study estimates that
graduates and professionals, contributing 1,5% of GDP,
emigrated in the three years to 1997. Joubert and Fourie
says the average graduates in 1997 had the potential to
contribute R7, 4m over their working lives to the
economy. They calculate that the brain drain in four
years under review cost the SA economy R285bn in
potential contributions to overall GDP over the working
lives of graduates who emigrated in that time. SA was
regarded as an immigration country until 1994, but has
come an emigration country. Factors in the change include
crime, expectations of economic growth and potential
earnings and the promulgation of the Employment Equity
Act. The researchers say emigration is a rational
response to the act, which is aimed at making the
workplace representative of the racial balance of the
population as quickly as possible.

SAPA (Pretoria 22/04) reports a representative of
the UNHCR warned that the plight of Africa's six million
refugees could worsen because of the Kosovo crisis. Donor
countries may have to make a choice between the
much-publicised refugee problem of Kosovo - which was
close to home - and the "forgotten crisis" of
Africa, UNHCR Africa director Albert-Alain Peters said.
"You can hardly blame people for looking after their
own problems," Peters said. "Unfortunately
those people happen to be the same people we look to for
resources for our refugees." He said the UNHCR would
continue putting pressure on its donors not to forget
"the unfortunate populations" of Africa.
"The refugee situation in Africa is just as bad - if
not worse - than that of Kosovo. In Kosovo they are
receiving food, chocolates and cigarettes. In Africa,
they live in the bush." The organisation was coping
poorly with the refugee problem in Africa, which was
delaying the pace of development in many host countries.
African countries had done much to alleviate the
continent's refugee problem by opening their borders to
exiles. "They offer their infrastructure, schools,
clinics and roads to refugees to the detriment of their
own development." Peters said Africa had one of the
largest refugee populations in the world.

SAPA (Nelspruit 21/04) reports that commandos and
police in Mpumalanga have arrested 1,694 "illegal
immigrants" and other suspects since the beginning
of the month. Offences included illegal border crossings,
possession of unregistered guns, and assault, said army
spokeswoman Lize Pienaar. "This was a result of
deploying our commando units to work jointly with the
police at our border with Mozambique, and all over the
province," Pienaar said. Commandos in the
Driefontein, Zonstraal, Dundonald and Volksrust areas
confiscated 16 unlicensed guns, including pistols, rifles
and pellet guns. Two tons of dagga were confiscated from
Mozambicans who allegedly planned to smuggle it across
the border to sell in South Africa. Five "illegal
Mozambican immigrants" were arrested for allegedly
beating up a taxi driver in Komatipoort. In the
KwaNdebele area nine wanted criminals were arrested, six
stolen vehicles and 13 illegal guns were recovered and
ten suspects arrested, Pienaar said. The team also
arrested 18 "illegal immigrants", recovered 54
rounds of ammunition, and confiscated 30 litres of beer
from unlicensed sellers.

Business Day (19/04) reports that the Heath
special investigation unit has been authorised to probe
claims that government officials and police have been
involved in the wrongful admission of people, cars and
goods through SAs borders. A proclamation by
President Nelson Mandela in the Government Gazette gives
the unit, headed by Judge Willem Heath, the go-ahead to
probe the allegations against officials of the Home
Affairs department and the SA revenue service and the SA
police Service. The proclamation said allegations had
also been received that officials from these bodies
failed "to act in terms of appropriate legislation
against offenders at ports of entry" in the Northern
Province. It was alleged that officials failed to collect
and irregularly collected fees from people passing
through the border and also wrongfully charged
commission.

Business Day (19/04) reports that in Cape Town,
there is growing anxiety in SAs Chinese community
over the increasing number of illegal Chinese immigrants
entering SA since full diplomatic ties were established
with the Peoples Republic of China. A senior member
of the community said there was concern that illegal
immigration to SA from the worlds most populous
countries, and associated crimes such as prostitution and
smuggling, were getting worse. He said South African
Chinese and those granted citizenship were being blamed
for the actions of the immigrants. This was particularly
bad in the Western Cape where "illegal" Chinese
immigrants are heavily involved in the smuggling of
perlemoen. Another senior member of the Chinese community
said the immigrants were pouring into SA "in their
thousands" and that it cost SA a lot of money to
repatriate them back to China. Inspector Johann Fourie of
the South African Police Service aliens investigation
unit said the tactics used by immigrants was to travel by
air to SA via Johannesburg, but to list Maseru, Maseru,
Mbabane or Maputo as their final destination. After
reaching their destination, they buy false identity
documents and passports and use these to enter South
Africa by road.

The Argus (16/04) reports that the opinion of
immigration lawyers and experts as well as opposition MPs
is that the department of Home Affairs runs a crippled
administration that will be unable to implement the new
White Paper on International Migration. Attorney Gary
Eisenberg says the real problem facing South
Africas efforts to streamline its immigration
policy is not the legal framework but the administrative
breakdown of the department. "Give us any rules you
like, but run the department efficiently," he
pleads. "The department operates in a crippled
fashion and is one of the few with absolutely no
credibility." His comments come after the release of
the White Paper that acknowledges South Africa is losing
the battle against "illegal immigration" and
proposes a radical overhaul of the current system. The
White Paper recognises the futility of attempting to
police SAs 7000-Km border and relying on
deportations to repatriate SAs 3m-5m "illegal
aliens". It would take 25-30 years merely to deport
existing "illegal immigrants". The upshot is a
policy that aims to make it unattractive for people to
reside in South Africa illegally by shifting law
enforcement away from border control to community and
workplace inspections. The White Paper relies on
government agencies, employers and society in general to
identify and report "illegal aliens", but so
uneasy are the authors about the xenophobic backlash this
could unleash that they propose a "10-year sunset
clause" to this activity.

Cape Times (16/04) reports that a representative
of the Cape Town refugee forum said many of the estimated
14,000 refugees in Cape Town live in desperate
conditions, without food or proper accommodation. The
forum aims to help refugees in South Africa, improve
their conditions and fight xenophobia. The forum along
with other organisations lobbies the government to handle
refugees more humanely. Some parts of the Refugee Act are
unacceptable as they stand, says Willam Kerfoot of the
Legal Resources Center. He explained that until recently,
asylum seekers who arrived in Pietersburg and decided to
move to Cape Town discovered they had to return to
Pietersburg every three months to report to the
authorities. However, the biggest battle the forum fights
is that against xenophobia. The organisation has reported
22 murders of refugees since June last year, and there
have been many cases of victimisation.

SAPA (Johannesburg 14/04) reports that more
resources should be allocated to South African borders to
enable the South African National Defence Force to
adequately control the influx of "illegal
immigrants", the United Democratic Movement said on
Wednesday. The government should also re-visit foreign
policy with southern African countries, UDM acting
secretary-general Annelize van Wyk said. "With so
many South Africans unable to get a job of their own,
controlling this influx of aliens should be a top
government priority," she said. Van Wyk said foreign
policy did not adequately cover the issue of
"illegal immigration". She said the Southern
African Development Community should re-examine its
policies and ensure economic and democratic stability in
the region so that job opportunities could be created.
The UDM did not believe that the closure of borders
offered a real solution to the problem. Economic
development of the region would be a more realistic
approach. The UDM further believed that "illegal
immigrants" should be treated humanely, Van Wyk
said.

Prega Govender for the Sunday Times (11/04) reports
that charges of fraud and corruption are being
investigated against home affairs officials in centres
around KwaZulu-Natal. This week, a woman claimed another
official from Maritzburg accepted a bribe from a
Taiwanese businessman to "marry" him to her
without her knowledge. Judy Pillay, 26, was told she was
"married" to her former employer, Deng Danong,
when she went to the Maritzburg office to apply for a
child grant. Pillay said when she confronted Danong he
offered her R450 to keep silent. "Danong told me he
had bribed a home affairs official with R800 to get him
married. "The woman from home affairs whom he had
given the money to visited me at home last month and
offered me R2 700 to drop the case, but I declined the
offer. Terry Kotze, acting regional representative for
the Department of Home Affairs, said the official denied
accepting money to process Danong's marriage certificate.
"Danong's temporary residence permit expired in
October last year and as far as we are concerned he is
illegally in the country and can face deportation,"
Kotze said.

Carol Paton reported for the Sunday Times (11/04)
that employers will have to pay more to employ
foreigners, and the creation of a new enforcement agency
to inspect workplaces and schools for "illegal
foreigners" has been proposed under radical new
plans to discourage "illegal immigration".
Under the new policy - proposed in the White Paper on
International Migration published last week - teachers,
doctors, nurses and any other public servants who come
into contact with an "illegal immigrant" will
be compelled to report them to the Immigration Service.
Employers who want to hire foreigners will have to make
an extra payment to the government, certify that they are
not paying any foreigner less than a South African would
get for the same job, and that they are complying with
all legislation and agreements, including those reached
between trade unions and employers in the industry. The
measures outlined in the White Paper are designed to
discourage foreigners (particularly those who are African
and unskilled) from staying in South Africa for long
periods and attempting to work illegally. It is hoped
that, by making it more difficult for foreigners to find
work, they will voluntarily repatriate themselves. At the
same time, the proposals aim to make it easier to enter
South Africa, providing three-month entry permits to
anyone who can guarantee that they can and will leave -
by providing a return ticket or refundable cash or credit
card guarantees. One of the most controversial aspects of
the policy, says Mario Ambrosini, an adviser to the
Minister of Home Affairs, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, is that
it will be possible to increase guarantees for people who
come from countries from which the authorities would like
to discourage migrants. The guarantees for visitors from
other countries, such as those in Europe, could be made
substantially less.

David Greybe reports for Business Day (Cape Town
07/04) reports that the cabinet has given the go
ahead for a new alien and immigration control policy
which is more flexible in controlling people's entry into
SA, but enforces stricter conditions of stay. At the
heart of the proposed policy is a reliance on market
forces to determine which skills are needed in SA. The white
paper on international migration also recognises the
many shortcomings of the present system, which is based
on maximum government control over foreigners.
Increasingly employers wanting to recruit foreigners, and
foreigners wanting to enter SA, have expressed
dissatisfaction over officials' arbitrary decisions. At
the same time, government has been forced to recognise
that deportation of illegal immigrants has not worked, as
it has realised it cannot seal SA's borders. The policy
paper therefore proposes a radical overhaul of the
system. Unveiling the white paper last week, Home Affairs
Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi said it represented
"an earnest effort to provide answers to many
problems associated with international migration".
The product of a specialist task team's year of study, it
recommends scrapping the discredited Immigration
Selection Board in favour of "objective
criteria" administered by a regulatory agency to be
known as the Immigration Service. This is intended to
enable businesses to recruit foreign workers on condition
that they pay predetermined sums into a skills training
fund for SA workers. Linked to this is a proposal for
government not to interfere in determining how many
foreigners, or what skills, are needed in the labour
market. Market forces will determine that. The paper's
drafters are confident that the new immigration scheme
will lead to a radical reduction in the number of illegal
immigrants found in work places. Officials who will, as a
result of the implementation of the new policy, be
relieved of "paperwork and border control" will
be transferred to "community inspectorates"
which will police workplaces, communities and schools.
The thinking is that by targeting these areas, SA will
eventually become unattractive to "illegal
immigrants". The paper accepts the difficulty of
forcibly repatriating the estimated 5million
"illegal immigrants" in SA, encouraging
"voluntary departure" instead. The paper
proposes dividing foreigners into two broad camps:
workers and the rest, which includes tourists and
businessmen. While workers fall under community
inspectorates, tourists and businessmen will be eligible
for once-renewable three-month entry permits. The
immigration service will be empowered to negotiate
corporate visas, to be given to domestic companies for a
specified number of foreign workers on the basis of
skills needs and administered by the companies
themselves. For example, if a company negotiates 20
foreign worker permits and pays a specified sum into the
training fund, it can issue them as it wishes as long as
it has no more than 20 foreign workers. It takes
responsibility for the eventual repatriation of its
foreign workers. In future visitors from countries
specified in regulations will not be required to obtain
visas beforehand if they provide proof at the port of
entry of a return air ticket or other prescribed
guarantees. Those entering across SA's land borders must
possess visas or travel documents issued by an SA
diplomatic mission. Alternatively, at all points of
entry, people may enter on the basis of a credit card
procedure. An official "will swipe any major credit
card to request authorisation for a prescribed amount
which will be debited or automatically refunded once the
visitor exits the country... this amount will be equal to
the per unit overall cost to find and deport an illegal
alien".

SAPA (Lusaka 07/04) reports that Zambia has
appealed to the international community for immediate
assistance to help the government cope with the daily
flow of refugees fleeing fighting in the DRC. Zambian
Home Affairs Minister Dr Katele Kalumba appealed to the
international community to look into the plight of the
refugees to avert what he described as disgusting human
suffering. Kalumba described the refugee situation as
desperate and predicted the number of refugees in Zambia
would increase to 40,000 by the weekend, if refugees
continued to stream into the country at a rate of between
400 and 500 people a day. Kalumba said he was appalled by
the conditions in refugee camps which lacked basic
requirements such as food, water, good sanitation,
shelter, medicine or clothes. "The international
community should come and help us because we have
overstretched ourselves with the limited resources at our
disposal," Kalumba said. A UNHCR information officer
in Lusaka, Dominik Bartsch, conceded the refugees were
streaming into Zambia at an unprecedented rate. "We
shall soon resettle them at Mwenge permanent refugee
settlement in Mporokoso district, some 200 kilometres
south of Kaputa." He said the UNHRC had also
appealed for more land to be allocated in Kawambwa to
resettle refugees coming into Zambia from Pweto, where
the Zambia Red Cross is presently caring for more than
6000 people. Lack of official food rations recently led
to looting by refugees in Kaputa, causing concerns about
security in the area. A situation was averted after
emergency food rations arrived from Lusaka.

SAPA-AP (Lusaka 07/04) reports that the government
appealed to foreign donors for emergency food aid for
more than 30,000 refugees who have fled into northeastern
Zambia from fighting in neighboring Congo. Home Affairs
Minister Katele Kalumba described the plight of Congolese
fugitives as "desperate." He said 30,000
Congolese have sought refuge in the past two months and
Zambia lacked resources to cater for them. Oluseyi
Bucumi, UNHCR representative in Lusaka, said in a
statement Wednesday poor roads in northern Zambia
hampered relief operations and the moving of refugees
further south. Earth moving vehicles were being deployed
to clear the roads so refugees could be transported
southward later this week. He said there were
"isolated" incidents of refugees looting
agricultural fields in Kaputa because food distribution
was delayed." Reported tensions between Zambian
villagers and refugees had been over dramatized, Bucumi
said.

Reuters (Gaborone 06/04) reports that Botswana
granted asylum to more than 1,000 alleged Namibian
separatists who fled across the border last year,
straining relations between the two southern African
neighbours. "They have nothing to fear by going
back," a spokesman for Botswana President Festus
Mogae told Reuters after the government gave asylum to
1,116 Namibian refugees. About 2,100 Namibians, alleged
to be seeking the secession of a thin strip of land in
north-eastern Namibia called Caprivi, crossed into
northern Botswana last year, claiming to be fleeing
political persecution. Under a UN refugee convention
signed by Botswana, the Namibians cannot be sent home
without their consent. In February, Botswana granted
refuge to 15 leaders of the secessionist movement, a
decision which outraged Namibia and prompted demands for
their immediate extradition. Mogae's office said in a
statement that the UNHCR had recommended to Botswana that
Namibians be granted asylum in order that they may be
classified as legitimate refugees and receive
international aid. "The government of Botswana is
continuing its relentless efforts to convince the
Namibians remaining in Botswana that voluntary
repatriation remains the most durable solution," the
statement said. Under a UNHCR refugee convention signed
by Botswana and Namibia, the refugees cannot be sent home
without their consent. Mogae's spokesman said asylum
applications for the remaining 1,000 Namibians living in
Botswana's Dukwe Refugee Camp were still being processed.

The Star (03/04) reports that according to the
White Paper on international migration, a special
security service should be set up to curtail
"illegal immigration". Launching the paper,
Minister Buthelezi said the move might be the solution to
the countrys migration problems. "Illegal
aliens" compete for resources with millions of South
Africans living in poverty, the White Paper claims. Many
of them are involved in crime, weakening the state by
corrupting officials and fraudulently acquiring
documents. "The best way to prevent further illegal
immigration is to create in South Africa an environment
which does not offer them the opportunities for
employment and free available public service which they
cannot find in their own countries". Members of the
proposed alien security services should be trained to
conduct investigations, and the body should have its own
intelligence unit. Other proposals in the document
include the creation of an immigration court, and minimum
mandatory penalties for those employing and harbouring
"illegal aliens". For foreigners living in the
country, the paper provides for measures to discourage
their employment. People to be barred from South Africa
include those with infectious diseases or criminal
records, citizens of certain countries, those previously
deported and members of criminals or terrorist
organisations.

SAPA (Pretoria 01/04) reports that a special
security service should be set up to curtail
"illegal immigration", according to the White
Paper on International Migration released in Pretoria
on Thursday. It also moots separate detention facilities
for illegal aliens, and provides for such individuals to
be held in custody for up to 48 hours without a warrant.
Outlining the scope of South Africa's problems with
"illegal immigrants", the document says it
would take at least 30 years to repatriate those already
in the country. "Illegal aliens" compete for
scarce resources and jobs with millions of South Africans
living in poverty, the paper says. A considerable
percentage of them are involved in crime, weakening the
state and its institutions by corrupting officials and
fraudulently acquiring documents. "The best way to
prevent further illegal immigration is to create in South
Africa an environment which does not offer them the
opportunities of employment and free available public
services which they cannot find in their countries of
origin." Other proposals in the document included
the creation of an immigration court, and minimum
mandatory penalties for those employing and harbouring
"illegal aliens". The paper favours leniency
for the non-citizen spouses of South Africans, saying
they should be granted permanent residence permits. This
should apply to civil and customary marriages, common law
marriages and long-term homosexual relationships. People
to be barred from the country include those with
infectious diseases or criminal records, citizens of
certain countries, those previously deported, and members
of criminal or terrorist organisations.